Income tax revenues fall off the table

Just as the U.S. government borrows and spends zillions of dollars to revive the economy, the last thing it needs is a drop in revenues. It happened anyway last month.

April usually is the largest revenue month of the year for Internal Revenue Service, because that is when many taxpayers pay their income taxes. Revenues in April 2009 were only $266 billion, down from $404 billion in April 2008. That is the largest April-to-April decrease in nearly 30 years that records have been kept, according to the American Institute for Economic Research.

The large drop in revenues can be attributed in part to the recession itself and all the jobs that have eliminated. But the drop is hardly responsible for the projected $1.8 trillion budget deficit this year. That’s due to the large increase in government spending.